serve the public trust can summon even one tiny iota of the courage those teachers, that principal in newtown summoned on friday, if cooperation and common-sense prevail, then i'm convinced we can make a sensible, intelligent way to make the united states of america a safer and stronger place for our children to learn and to grow. thank you, and now i'm going to let the vice president go and i'm going to take a few questions. and i will start with ben. >> thank you mr. president. i'd like to ask you about the other serious issue consuming this town right now the fiscal cliff. >> right. >> haven't you pre trade some of the voters who supported you in the election by changing your positions on who should get a tax increase and by including social security benefits now into this mix, and more broadly there seems to be a deepening sense that negotiations aren't going very well right now. can you give us a candid update, are we likely to go over the cliff? >> well, first of all, there is no reason why we should. remember what i said during the campaign, i thought that it was important for us to re